In 2 BBY, Kimali graduated from the Imperial Academy and joined a group of Rebel sympathizers. When the group came under suspicion, Kimali's mother, Ilaani Soresh, helped her son evade arrest. She then confided the whole matter to her husband Rezi Soresh so that he may bid his son farewell. But Rezi turned Ilaani and Kimali in to the Galactic Empire, resulting in a life sentence for both of them on the Gree Baaker Labor Camp.